Just a few days left until the spookiest night of the year, and while October may be San Francisco’s warmest month, I’ve been doing my best to summon the spirit. The pumpkins are out, the Featherly Friends have migrated to the mantel, and I’ve stocked up on trick-or-treat candy.

Of course, I need something spooky to read too. So this week, I’ve got a little triptych of witchy mysteries, from the cozy to the fantastical. We’ll start with In the Company of Witches, a cozy mystery set in a New England B&B. Then we’ll move to A Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic and Murder, a blend of the historical and modern. And we’ll end with Death on the Caldera, a luxuriant Golden Age-esque fantasy mystery.

Three very different takes on witchy mysteries – or are they? Let’s take a closer look.

In the Company of Witches

This is The Cozy Owlet, so we’ll start with a cozy mystery. (Found under the coziest of circumstances – on a rainy-day excursion to Trident Booksellers!)

In Auralee Wallace’s In the Company of Witches, Brynn and her family run a charming B&B in the postcard-perfect New England town of Evenfall. They also happen to be witches — a secret they use mostly to help their neighbors in quiet, invisible ways. When a controversial town resident dies while staying at their B&B, Brynn’s life suddenly shifts from managing guests to solving a murder…

Wallace fills every page with warmth — the love between Brynn and her family, and between the family and their town. And familial love permeates the mystery too, as Brynn unravels the complex set of motives for the victim’s family to hurt her. I was also surprised by the exploration of Brynn’s grief – the result of her love for her husband – as a theme not usually explored so directly in cozy mysteries. It led to a much richer emotional picture, and one that really heightened the sense of familial bonds.

Of course, every witchy story has its magic system. I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure how this one works – witches each have special talents, but can also perform more general magic via spellbooks? You might think that bodes poorly for the mystery component, as it does draw in elements of the magic. Perhaps surprisingly, that part is fully fair play, which gives it major points for a modern cozy.

A Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic and Murder

Moving a little further towards the witchy part of the scale is A Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic and Murder. This story follows a Fey changeling, Avery, as she attempts to navigate the modern world after 200 years of nightmare stasis. She quickly meets Saga Trygg, modern-day hearth witch and descendant of the famous Hudson family. Together, they investigate a series of mysterious murders – someone keeps replacing victims’ vital organs with herbal poppets.

There’s plenty at stake here — from the fate of Fey society to Saga’s discovery that her own family has kept magic a secret from her. And just as she’s absorbing that information, the investigation starts to move from an interesting puzzle to one with deeply personal stakes.

That all makes this sound Very Serious, and there are certainly moments of danger for our protagonists. But there are also many moments of levity, of discovery, of joy – and of romance. Like Brynn, Saga’s overcoming heartbreak (albeit of a more prosaic variety); Saga, however, has an intriguing new changeling friend to occupy her thoughts. Saga and Avery make an intriguing couple, especially for two people who’ve known each other only a week.

Fans of mystery will enjoy that Avery lives at 221B Baker Street (yes, that one!), and that Saga is related to that Mrs. Hudson. The Hudson family plays a large role in the story, and Saga’s relationships with her grandmother, her mother, and her maternal aunt are critical to its emotional core. Gallagher is juggling a lot of balls here – fantasy, mystery, romance, family – and for the most part, keeps them all up in a satisfying way. A great hygge story for a cozy October read.

Death on the Caldera

For the third and final piece in our witchy triptych, we leave cozy B&Bs and bustling city streets behind for something grander… Death on the Caldera is one of the more unique fantasy mysteries I’ve read this year, due in large part to its blend of Golden Age-eque historical setting, creative and expansive worldbuilding, and three magic systems. Add in royal succession tension and a disastrous train breakdown, and you’ve got a compelling blend of mystery and adventure.

At first, I expected a fantasy version of Murder on the Orient Express: a closed-circle mystery aboard a stranded train. But Death on the Caldera quickly expands the formula. Instead of one detective, we follow several protagonists — three of them royal siblings — and a far larger cast of suspects. And, of course, there’s the magic.

Here, three kinds of magic coexist — scholarly sorcery taught at universities, religious magic practiced by acolytes, and the forbidden witchcraft powered by ancient volcanoes. The last leaves its users with gaping holes in their memories. When the train mysteriously turns to stone, it’s all too easy for the authorities to blame a witch — but the royal siblings know their witch sister is innocent. Thus, they immediately turn to solving the mystery, to keep their sister Davina from becoming the scapegoat for the entire disaster..

This all makes the story sound rather complicated, and at several points tracing the many disparate threads can get overwhelming. But at its core, the story is about a family uncovering long-buried secrets and learning to trust one another. It balances the pull of individual desire — for freedom, power, love — against the strength of family ties. The rest of the story is mystery-flavored dressing – fun to read, but not the main event.

Magic, mayhem, and mystery

Despite their very different tones, each story turns on the same axis: history, family, and the quiet magic of love. (These themes hold up against my prior look at witchy mysteries, which is a fun consistency.) In that way, Hallowe’en itself feels even more perfect for witches — a night steeped in tradition, when families gather to share light against the dark.

Just as families gather for Hallowe’en, these witchy mysteries remind us that the bonds of kinship — magical or mundane — can be both our greatest challenge and our greatest comfort. So I wish you, dear reader, a very happy Hallowe’en, full of family and mystery.

Until next time – stay cozy, and stay curious!